Hammer and Steel, Inc. provides ABI Mobilram Systems in Downtown Brooklyn

Brooklyn, the most populous borough of New York City, has famously undergone a massive residential construction boom over the past few years.  To fit the needs of an ever-growing demand for luxurious city living, one of several new high-rise residential buildings is underway in downtown Brooklyn, and Hammer and Steel is providing several rigs to get the job done.

Nicknamed “The Hub,” the latest addition to the Brooklyn skyline is located on Schermerhorn St., and is slated to include 720 residential spaces, of which 20 percent will be allocated to “affordable housing”.  Stretching over 50 stories, the structure will be one of the tallest in Brooklyn, and in addition to its residential space will include 42,000 square feet of retail space on the street level.  Designed by Dattner Architects, construction is being managed by New Line Construction, and ECD NY has been subcontracted for the building’s foundation.

Both Mobilrams are equipped with VDW double-head drilling systems and 20-inch micropile clamp-and-breaker systems installed specifically for this job.  These rigs are being utilized to install over 450 micropiles, which are 16 inches in diameter, and being drilled to a depth of 120 feet to bedrock. Once drilling through overburden is accomplished using hex-coupled drill rods and a tri-cone roller bit, the piles will be installed in a 10 foot rock socket. When the casing is seated to rock, ECD NY will then use the Delmag RH 24 to trip out the inner drill string to allow room for a 12 inch down-the-hole hammer to complete drilling of the rock socket. Several shallower micropiles are also required on the job, and for this ECD NY chose the Comacchio MC 1200 and MC 1200P, which also installed several shoring piles for a lagging wall for supported excavation on site. They are completing the micropiles by mixing their own grout utilizing a Scheltzke MPS510 automated batch plant with a horizontal silo, operated by remote control.